In the same block of testimony where the Pariser disclosed
that the RIAA’s lawsuit campaign is costing “millions” more than it earns, Thomas’
counsel pounced on the fact that the record industry was only seeking the punitive
damages available in the Copyright Act. “What are your actual damages?” he
asked.

Here we go. “We haven't stopped to calculate the amount of
damages we've suffered due to downloading,” replied Pariser, who then added
that, “that's not what's at issue here.” (Judge Michael Davis, who was
overseeing the case, quickly remanded her to stay on topic.)

This statement runs counter to the numerous claims that the
RIAA has made over the years regarding piracy and the industry’s actual
suffering. One of the more recent claims, found under the “students doing
reports” FAQ section of the RIAA’s
web site, cites a conservative estimate of $300 million worth of losses. Another study, released by the
Institute for Policy Innovation, quoted worldwide losses due to piracy at $12.5
billion USD and over 71,000 jobs.

Pariser could have
easily cited either of those numbers as part of her explanation of ‘actual
damages’ – unless, of course, the facts regarding that those figures are less
than certain. Remember, she’s under oath here.

Over the years, there’s been a long tradition in debunking
the dollar amounts that the RIAA has cited as money lost due to so-called
piracy. People find all sorts of interesting explanations: lost CD sales are
actually converted to music
purchases at iTunes, lost CD sales are due to a decreased demand and
rising prices, that piracy actually helps to promote the purchases of
music, and so on and so forth. While I’m not going to argue that piracy doesn’t
have some kind of effect, it does
seem that if the industry wants to convince more government officials of its
plight, at least it could get its figures straight.

When and if the music industry releases some honest-to-God figured
that aren’t skewed, the big question then becomes one of trust: can we believe those numbers? Will we, the people, ever
believe a word to come out of their mouths?

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Many people support the RIAA's actions because their own lifelihood dependent on enforcement of intellectual property laws. They want an end to the culture of piracy, not fair compensation for the recording industry. So the numbers are basically irrelevant.

Piracy might not hurt the music industry as much as they claim, but others will not be so fortunate. I personally work in education. Electronic books are still in infancy, so file sharing is yet a large problem. But eventually they'll be the dominant medium. How could the author of a college textbook make money if people could just download it for free? You can't go out and give live performance. You can't put advertisements in your book. And will piracy of textbooks lead to more sales? Would cash-strapped college students elect to pay $50 because they're big fans of your work? I don't think so.

Ahhh... your logic works to an extent... but breaks down. Textbooks are priced so tragically high because of low print runs. It's damn expensive to produce a few thousand books vs producing the same in electronic format.

In reality, the advent of electronic media, and piracy will force a new paradigm in all sorts of media. Music and movies are simply the first to get hit in a sense. More then likely, texts will be rolled into course fees, and the publisher will simply sell it to schools.

Now, not in the traditional sense of sell, but figure the course fees rise by x dollars (x < then paper text equivalent). Learning media becomes cheaper, and academia protects itself through the internalization of 'book' purchasing.

And honestly, if this electronic copy gets out to the public for free, the knowledge spread will be good for human kind. Added to that the texts, without the degree are worthless to the market anyway.

Win Win. Greater spread of knowledge, cheaper textbooks, and a protected system of distribution, as Academia will protect itself.

Apply this method to public schools, but with a much larger student base, the texts will still be cheaper for schools to buy then present, and on top of the publisher can manage same profit. Governments tend to purchase most books for elementary, and secondary school anyway.